Astros, Blue Jays may hold key to Marlins' spring future

Two major league teams are eager to make Palm Beach Gardens their spring home.

While that could bring a significant economic boost to the city and Palm Beach County, it is also vital to ensuring the Miami Marlins keep their spring base on the east coast.

Officials of the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays this week confirmed interest in a shared facility being discussed for an 82-acre tract of city- and county-owned land north of PGA Boulevard near Central Boulevard. That would be little more than a Giancarlo Stanton wallop from the Roger Dean Stadium complex the Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals share in Jupiter.

"We want to create a spring training hub for the fans of the Cardinals, Marlins, Astros, Mets and Blue Jays," Giles Kibbe, general counsel for Astros owner Jim Crane said Friday, including the New York Mets' Port St. Lucie base in the equation. "If we could make that happen I think it will stabilize things in South Florida and ensure [spring training] baseball is there for a long time to come."

If those plans fail to materialize, it could signal an exodus of the last vestige of a once-bustling stretch of spring training activity on the coast. Not long ago seven teams camped between Miami and Brevard County. Now only four remain, and the Washington Nationals, already on the outer fringe in Viera, are eager to flee to a new facility in Kissimmee if funding is approved.

That is significant because the Marlins, when they negotiated a lease extension at the Roger Dean complex through 2027, gained an option to leave any time after 2017 if there are fewer than four teams within close proximity of their Jupiter base. That could trigger a move to the Gulf Coast.

"We are concerned with the travel that would be associated with fewer teams in our area," said Claude DeLorme, who oversees the Marlins' operations in Jupiter. "It's a beautiful venue, so all things being equal we definitely want to stay in that area. We're certainly cheering for Houston and the Blue Jays to be successful in their efforts."

The prospect of that improved when the Florida Legislature approved an economic-development provision in May that provides up to $50 million in state funding for spring training facilities housing two teams. The Astros and Jays are in talks with the city and county about the remainder of the cost of the facility estimated at about $100 million. It is not known how much the teams would be willing to contribute to the project.

Crane, who owns the Floridian Golf Club in Palm City and is building a home there, may have overstated in telling the Houston Chronicle, "We're down to the final approval with the city."

Kibbe said Friday, "We're a long way from getting there but it is something that we're focusing on. We're very hopeful. I wouldn't even begin to guess at what the odds are. The county has to get comfortable with the financial side and so does the city. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of months."

The Blue Jays are playing it closer to the vest, but have conveyed disenchantment with their situation in Dunedin, spring quarters since the franchise's inception in 1977. The facility is antiquated, and the major and minor league complexes are several miles apart.

Many teams have been enticed from long-time spring training bases by entities offering state-of-the art facilities. The Dodgers were a fixture in Vero Beach for 60 years before abandoning Dodgertown for an $80 million spread in Glendale, Ariz.

The Blue Jays have reportedly dodged overtures by Dunedin officials for renegotiating the lease that expires in 2017. Team president Paul Beeston couldn't be reached Friday, but Dunedin Mayor Dave Eggers told the Tampa Bay Times that Beeston confirmed the club's interest in joining the Astros in Palm Beach Gardens.

Meanwhile, Tom McNicholas, spokesman for Palm Beach Gardens, said: "We are thrilled to hear that Jim Crane has fully committed to move the Houston Astros' spring training facility to the City of Palm Beach Gardens. … We want to be certain a dual Major League Baseball facility is financially achievable and that it's the best thing for our community."

Kibbe said the two teams would have an annual economic benefit of about $100 million for the county. The state estimates a $753 million impact by the 15 teams that train at Florida's 14 venues and draw 1.6 million fans during spring training.